Final Fantasy: The Ultimate Epic - The First Saga

This review contains minor spoilers.

With the first ten chapters taking four years to complete, Gred Strnad has a patience of a saint. He truly has. But after all his hard work, the first instalment is finally complete, and this really is an epic, with the first saga lasting over a whooping hundred minutes. If you wished that greats like Gnomes or Ghost in the Shell had a more non-linear story, or wished that the JDR series had something good in plot, this should be right for you. So close all your AIM and MSN conversations, sign out, and be prepared to be stunned at Final Fantasy... the Ultimate Epic Saga 1. Vlarion fans, rejoice!

So, what is it all about? Well, it all revolves around an attack made at RICCO, and the first chapter neatly introduces the UBI, who are investigating this crime. And that is already one unique feature of Strnad's huge movie, it is split into 'chapters'. Each chapter delves into a different part of the story, allowing viewers to explore the many different lead characters (and there's six or seven of them), and it is extremely effective. You may thing that it is a bit of a chore, trying to understand the complex plot and learning about all the people in, but it really isn't. This film is written so well that you actually crave for more plot and character development. Yes, the first four or five chapters more or less introduces the main characters, but I was still fascinated by these chapters (especially chapter three).

And once we are fully told of everyone who is vital to this epic, it gets even better. From the story development to the action scenes, this really does not disappoint. If you are like me, you will want listen to every single word of the script as closely as you can, whether if it is following Benkk, disguised in the RICCO building, or if it is with the UBI, chasing the culprit behind all this. And the action scenes? Let them take your breath away. The fast-paced car chase scene has got to be one of the most memorable scenes in the history of 3DMM, and in addition, you also get a few fights chipped in.

But what really wins me over is The Ultimate Epic's brilliant story-telling. In about nine out of ten movies, the movie, providing it has some sort of plot, has one beginning, one middle, and one end. Not this one. Greg Strnad has somehow managed to connect so many starting-points into two big fat middles by the end of chapter ten. And that's not all, both of the main stories at the end of this saga has some sort of minor plot attached to it, like an RPG side-quest I suppose. I can't imagine how many hours it has taken for Greg to come up with something like this, and the fact that this was actually executed extremely well is a massive bonus. The complexity of the story really does make a huge change from all the very linear stuff we see, even if they are superb, and that is probably The Ultimate Epic's most unique feature. It challenges the viewers to understand the story, something which is rarely tried, and it makes the rest of the movies look dull and exceedingly simple.

The Ultimate Epic is also consistently stunning in the scenery and audio categories. The amount of detail put in the backgrounds are almost as impressive as the story itself, and the director has obviously put a lot of focus on making this film look good too. And be sure to turn down the MIDI volume from your volume control; many people have complained about the loudness when it is really their fault. I found no problems whatsoever with the MIDIs, and the tunes always seemed to suit the scenes nicely. The sound effects were also spot-on, and I don't have any complaints here. Now, being this long a movie, you would expect this to have different voice-actors, wouldn't you? No, in fact, believe it or not, Greg himself voices every single character and doing so really makes this movie his own. As for the quality of the voices, they sound great, with enough variance in pitch and tone to make each character recognisable.

The only negative point I can think of, if you can really call it one, is its off-putting runtime. People, admittedly like me to start off with, may not feel up to watching a movie as long as this, and it is a shame that some people won't take a look because of this. But that said, I have learned from my mistake and I will not hesitate to check out the next saga when it finally comes out. On paper, this epic's first saga lasts over a hundred minutes. In reality, as long as you let yourself get wrapped up in this massively in-depth film, it will seem nowhere as long. To add to the experience, check out the prologue beforehand. Remember, this is only the beginning, and if this is an indication of how good the remaining chapters are going to be, then Final Fantasy... the Ultimate Epic will be known as one of the best achievements ever done on 3DMM.

Score: 100/100